I really need som tips on how to avoid getting trapped by my own hyperfokusing.
I very often i get completely consumed by either youtube shorts or something similar and i loose complete sense of time and spends literally 5 hours on just doom scrolling and wasting time. The worst part is that I’m hyperly aware that I’m doing it the whole time and I really want to stop but I just won’t shake myself off of it. I feel so bad because i should go walk the dog or go do my hobies instead. It happens the most often when I’m supposed to work from home and it makes the guilt feel even worse. If only I could do something for myself at least while not actually working. The only way I’ve found working so far is blocking the websites from me using blockers but I know that I’ll just either circumvent them or find something else that’s equally bad for me to hyperfokus on. And I do have legitimate reasons to use YouTube sometimes for work for tutorials etc so blocking it doesn’t really work so well for me.
How do I get out when I find myself in that trapped state? Let me know how you are dealing with it.
I wanna add that I’m medicated with methylphenidate but it doesn’t really work on getting out of the trap if I’ve first gotten in.
WFH and the biggest simple hack. Drink water… If properly hydrated you release fluid approx once an hour. Enough to get up and should allow for reset.
No data on this approach other personal experience
Awesome idea… But you won’t believe how good I’ve become at holding 😅
My husband deals with that, and one thing that has helped him quite a bit is setting alarms. If he knows he is taking on an extended task, he will set an alarm on his phone for every hour or so. When it goes off, it distracts him from whatever he was doing and interrupts anything he is watching, so he is reminded to get back on task.
Another tool is accountability to another person. If he is having a bad focus day, he will sometimes ask me to bug him if I notice he is distracted for too long. Use this sparingly. I have been this person for a few people with ADHD, and using this too often has resulted in me being responded to like a parent asking their kid to stop playing games and eat their dinner. You don’t want to end up viewing your friends and partners as though they are an authority figure.
Alarms actually does work. I use it for taking my meds and it’s working really well. I should maybe use it more for work as well. Thanks
As someone with ADHD and who also works from home 4 days a week, alarms are your friend. I have specific alarms set for tasks i need to get done every day aside from my main duties.
Depending on your job, setting up automations can also help. Anything to make your life easier will give your brain more bandwidth which ive found helps me focus better. For me, i have a script that automatically refreshes a webpage that i need to monitor all the time. I always keep this tab separate so that when it does refresh, i almost always notice.
I’m an automation engineer so this is literally my job. I’ve automated everything I can but since it’s my job it literally never ends.
Memes always cheer me up
Discuss with your doctor that’s prescribing your ADHD meds. It’s quite possible another medication or a different dose will work better.
I can only say that I had a very similar issue with concentration at work while WFH and getting on medication resolved it.
Beats the hell out of me. I’ve got no clue how I manage to get anything done at all, my focus just slides right off work.
Have you tried the pomodoro method to try to help force yourself to take breaks?
The worst part is that I’m hyperly aware that I’m doing it the whole time and I really want to stop but I just want shake myself off of it.
I’d probably seek profession help on that one. That sounds like a legitimate addition.
Training probably? It’s a shitty answer but it’s something that I’ve only gotten good at with time.
I try to keep distracting devices away during work hours and I’m not too hard on myself if I get briefly diverted - I’ll let myself indulge for about fifteen minutes before I try and clamp down and refocus. I do think there’s a danger in trying to be too strict with yourself because your brain will be shit if you try to maintain continuous focus but you also can’t continuously indulge wander brain (at least - not unless you’re rich).
If I do indulge in 15 min distraction i have no stop button and i keep going for multiple hours and its so bad. I can only win of i don’t ever start, but it’s so hard.
That’s very fair - my brain is pretty responsive to alarms so I can use a timer to limit how long I’ll be submerged for. A trusted partner can also help.
What has worked (a little bit) for me…
Make notes and reminders everywhere. Everywhere. I have time blocked off on my work calendar, do this specific task at this time, do this specific task at this time, 15 minutes of fucking around time in between. I will literally make a calendar appointment for taking breaks from work. I have a Kanban board of personal tasks to work on. I have alarms on my phone and watch reminding me to take a break for lunch or when to clean the litter boxes, etc.
One benefit of having reminders everywhere is that even when I’m consciously avoiding “The Thing I am Supposed to be Doing,” there’s a higher probability that I will land on something else productive to do instead of zoning completely out. I know I need to write this report by the end of the day, but I just saw a reminder that I need to reschedule my dental appt. Great, I still did something productive. Now I’m one step closer to actually writing that report.
It’s also important to give yourself grace and acknowledge that you’ll never be perfectly productive. Sometimes my 15 minute fuck-around break last 30 minutes. That’s OK. Breathe and get through it. Find the next post-it note or block of time on the calendar that tells me what I should be doing and make an honest attempt to do that. It’s not 100% effective, but it does help set the guardrails so I don’t get too far off track.
Also corporations steal our livelihood and don’t give a shit about you, so don’t feel that guilty about wasting some of their time. I get it, I get the same way but I have to remind myself of this fact.
Actually i couldn’t care less about wasting company time, but also wasting my own time I could spend on enjoying stuff I care about makes me sad. The weather was nice today and instead of going outside in the sunshine and walk the dog I just wasted 3 hours watching crap YouTube
Fair. I do this even when I’m not working though too tbh lol.
I personally prefer the pomodoro technique. The good thing about it, is that it requires a task list to work properly. I start every day by writing down what I need to do today, then use the timer to focus on one task at a time.
I never go on YouTube or social sites on my work laptop. I either convince myself my work can see that shit or it’s probably actually true. So if I want to use those sites my option is my phone or my own laptop. The solution is simple then. Just lock them up or put them elsewhere. There is nothing on YouTube or social media you need for work that you can’t find on a regular text based webpage.
The pomodoro method works well too. You only have to focus for 25 minute blocks, then you have some 5 minute breaks in between.
Tell yourself you’ll try to work for like 5-10 minutes or on the shortest, easiest task you have, and that if you aren’t focusing on it, you’ll take another break after 10. It’s easier to sit down to 10 minutes of work without being committed to a ton after, and it can get you to focus and actually work for an hour plus sometimes.
This actually does work sometimes but not every time. Especially if I’m tired. As soon as those 10 min is up i immediately shift my fokus away from anything work related. I guess sleep will help, but going to bed in a timely manner is hard when you have low will power.
